Heather Hodges

I rarely get excited about new household appliances, especially the ones that are intended for that dreaded domestic chore - cleaning. YUCK!!!! But today I’m singing the praises of my new vacuum cleaner. Yes, that’s right, my new vacuum cleaner.

After my old vacuum cleaner died at the hands of a six-year-old, I decided to do a little reseach about the models currently on the market. I was drawn to the Dyson because of a commercial I’d seen of a British guy talking about his vacuum that never lost suction. He said, “I just believe things ought to work properly.” Well, I agree 100% with that statement; I’m so tired of buying something over and over because the product was a poor design or inferior construction. So after reading dozens of reviews, I ordered the Dyson DC14 on Monday night. It arrived on Wednesday and I immediately put it to work. It’s phenomenal!!!!! The house had just been cleaned on Tuesday, but I re-vacuumed and was completely surprised at the amount of dirt, cat hair, etc. that was still in my carpet. This vacuum is one mighty sucker. It has a 17 foot attachment wand, a 30 foot cord, and is so quiet my cat isn’t afraid of it. And on top of all that, it just looks cool.

So, after two days of ownership….I give the Dyson DC14 five stars. Check back with me in a year or two and I’ll let you know how it holds up to rigorous use in the Hodges’ household.

I have just finished reading a book by Lauren Winner titled “Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline.” Lauren is a recent convert to Christianity from Judaism. I met her last year at the Zoe Conference in Nashville, where she was the keynote speaker. I found her to be a refreshingly down-to-earth, intuitive, Godly woman. (Aside: One comment she made during her talk that has haunted me to this day was in regards to the church of Christ’s a capella music. She thought the singing was beautiful and uplifting, but found it curious that the women were the ones to always have the “echo” part. Hmmmm…interesting observation.)

“Mudhouse Sabbath” is an invitation for Christians to enrich and deepen their faith by learning from the spiritual practices of Judaism. Lauren delves into the daily, weekly, and yearly practices of Orthodox Judaism that continually remind the faithful of the stories, grace, love, and presence of God. There is so much for Christians to learn about spiritual discipline from this beautiful little book. She discuses the practices of sabbath, hospitality, food and fasting, mourning, prayer, candle-lighting, etc. I have learned so much from Lauren already and I’m looking forward to my next Winner read, “Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life.” Thanks Lauren for pointing us in the right direction.

Last Sunday after church, Wade and I took the boys out for Indian food at a great little cafe here in Tulsa. The food was excellent, as usual, and as we were heading home he turned into the parking lot of Circuit City unexpectedly. He told us to wait in the car as he dashed into the store “Just to look at something.” As the boys and I waited, I noticed a guy walking out of the store cradling a medium sized white box. Shortly after he got in his car a family emerged from the store. The dad was holding the same white box and the two kids were jumping up and down at his side in excitement. At that point it dawned on me, they have a Wii !!!!! We have been searching for weeks for this coveted and highly elusive electronic commodity. Every store we would enter had either just sold their last one or they hadn’t had any for weeks and didn’t know when a new shipment would arrive. So when I saw two suspicious white boxes exiting a store in succession, the boys and I jumped out of the car and headed inside. I called to the family as I passed, “Is that a Wii?” The dad responded, “Yes, but I think they are selling the last one right now, you’ d better hurry.” At this point the boys knew the cause for my sudden dash towards the store and became equally as excited as I was. As we entered the store I saw the last Wii at the counter being purchased. I sadly told the boys that it was too late, that guy over there in the black shirt was buying the very last Wii. Caleb hung his head slightly in disappointment, but my astute 5 year old, Elijah said, “But Mom, that’s Dad!” So we now in turn became the family walking out of the store, dad carrying the white box and the two kids jumping up and down at his side.

As I’ve said before, I am not a fan of video games. I think they are a colossal waste of time and encourage children (and grown men) to become sedentary trigger happy couch potatoes. However, this is the not the case with the Wii. It is a high energy, up on your feet, interactive experience for the whole family. We have had tons of fun this week and we look forward to a long winter of family game nights.

Wii Parenting Tip - Privileges are Powerful: Wade and I have found that the Wii is also a great motivating tool to encourage our sons to clean their rooms, eat their asparagus, and refrain from assault and battery on each other.

My sons stealthily moved from house to house last night in the cover of darkness as ninjas. Of course mom was close behind with the flashlight. Elijah was dressed as a garden variety ninja and Caleb was of the Teenage Mutant sort. Halloween is starting to get really fun around the Hodges home.